For a Greek living in the Classical period, life was fairly simple on the surface. Farming was central to survival and had emerged as a profession of independent landowners. Yet when it came time to do battle, many of the aspects of Classical Greek battle seemed to clash with a seemingly static agrarian society. But examining the structure of hoplite battles more deeply affords us a different view. We will begin by discussing the different parts of the military and the social classes that they represent. After this, I will examine military equipment and its cost to supplement the understanding of military structure. It is also necessary to look at the formation of the phalanx in order to further realize how the entire structure plays out on the battlefield. Then we will get into the most important part of battle’s relation to Greek society; the conditions of victory. This part of the paper will also delve into the specifics of sacrifice and burial and what they show about Greek battle. After this we can understand just what battle meant in the Classical Age of Greece: a construct designed to resolve disputes while upholding an agricultural society.
2 thoughts on “Research Paper Introduction”
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Writing Style: The whole paragraph seems a little choppy in its sentence structure. Try combining some sentences to give it better flow. Furthermore, I personally prefer a subtler introduction of arguments over a blatant statement of what a writer plans on discussing, but this is simply a stylistic choice.
Content: You talk about two seemingly separate things: the broad subject of military structure, including victory, and the fact that the Greeks existed in an agrarian society. At the end of this paragraph, I’m still not sure how you plan on linking these two points, thus I would encourage you to make clear their relationship. Besides this aforementioned point, I think you’ve set yourself up to write an interesting and in-depth paper.
Here’s a reply about the writing style that actually follows the format:
What: Choppiness
Where: The writing before “We will begin by discussing….”
Why I’d change it: It disrupts the flow of your ideas.
What: Blatant introduction of arguments
Where: All the writing from “We will begin by discussing…” onward.
Why I’d change it: It would be more entertaining to read if it weren’t in such a format. Perhaps you could introduce your arguments more subtly.